Day of Firsts
by hmweasley
Summary: Luna joined the Ravenclaw Quidditch team in the hopes of making friends. On the day of her first match, she's terrified, but she isn't expecting to have even more firsts that day. AU.


**Prompts:**

**Monthly Challenges for All:**

Shipping War

Ship (Team): Dreamy Redhead

List (Prompt): Big List (first kiss)

Word Count: 1,831

**The Golden Snitch (Mahoutokoro, Mizu):**

International Women's Day: Luna Lovegood, "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

**Hogwarts Challenges and Assignments:**

Assignment 6 - Biosciences: task 9 - Write about a Seeker (canonical or not)

* * *

Luna's heart raced as she shot after the Snitch. Ginny Weasley wasn't easy competition. Though neither of them had participated in a match before, Ginny had a lot of experience on a broom. Luna had been mesmerized with her since the game had begun, glancing her way repeatedly when she should have been focused on finding the Snitch. Ginny, on the other hand, was singularly focused on her goal. She lived and breathed Quidditch in a way Luna never had and never would.

While Ginny had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team out of a love for the sport, Luna had joined because it was one of the few ways she hadn't yet tried to make friends, and she desperately wanted to make friends. Though she hadn't expected to make the team in the end, she'd given it a shot and surprised herself. That should have been a good thing, but as it turned out, people didn't like the idea of the Ravenclaw reject making the team.

That was why she had to be the one to catch the Snitch. She had to prove that she'd made the team for a reason. It was the only way to gain the respect of her house. Perhaps then, they'd cheer for her instead of hiding her shoes in strange places around the castle. It was her last hope.

Unfortunately for her, Ginny was as determined to win as she was, and she had a hardiness about her that Luna didn't. Ginny had thrown herself into the chase for the Snitch at full force, and Luna struggled to stay neck-to-neck with her. She was vaguely aware of their teammates as they zoomed past them at a hair's width. Part of her remembered that it wasn't smart to almost knock your own teammates off their brooms, but she was trying to focus on nothing except Ginny and the Snitch they were racing after.

They were close—_so_ close—to the ball. Luna reached her hand out at the same time Ginny did. They took turns inching ahead until both of their hands tried to close around the Snitch at the same time. Instead of the Snitch, their hands closed around each other's, and the Snitch escaped, disappearing from sight in an instant. Their grip on each other, tight as it was, threw them off balance send their brooms zigzagging through the air.

Ginny was able to steady herself with relative ease, but Luna couldn't manage the same at the speed they'd been going. Her broom did several dangerous twirls before it came to a stop. She blinked as she oriented herself. Glancing around, she noticed that Ginny was frowning at something to her right.

It was only then that Luna's senses widened and she heard Madame Hooch repeatedly blowing her whistle. She cringed as Hooch brought her broom to a stop across from them.

"Foul!" Hooch called. "For both Gryffindor and Slytherin."

Her glare was a strict reminder of all the rules that had been drilled into Luna's head during practice. She felt exposed high above the entire student body. Already she could imagine what they were thinking as she was publicly shamed during her first game.

"Both of you are out of the game for reckless play and ignoring my instructions."

Luna gave a short nod, looking at her broom, but Ginny only scowled at Hooch, shrugged, and descended to the ground. Luna followed her, unable to look at any of her teammates or the stands where vigorous booing could be heard. If they saw her eyes, they might see the unshed tears making them shine.

Once she made it to the ground, Roger landed in front of her before she could make it to the safety of the Ravenclaw locker room.

"What were you thinking?" he roared.

Luna looked at the grass, refusing to make eye contact. She had no way to defend herself. Already, she could imagine being thrown off the team. Roger hadn't been happy when she'd been the one to come out on top of his chosen test for Seeker. This was the perfect opportunity to replace her with Cho Chang, who Luna had managed to only narrowly beat. Her effort to make friends would result in her being more hated than ever before. She hadn't thought that was possible.

"You could have gotten us killed," Roger continued to rant, his arms waving through the air. "Randy was almost rammed off his broom thanks to you. What made you think you could play like that? Forget the possible deaths you could have caused, you're going to get the whole team expelled with a stunt like that. How am I going to explain to Hooch and Flitwick that I trained my players to disregard safety like that?"

"Relax, Davies."

Luna stiffened. She hadn't noticed Ginny nearby, leaning against one of the wooden posts that held up the stands. Roger glared at her as she pushed herself off her resting place and approached, her arms crossed against her chest. Despite it being directed at Roger, the smirk on her lips made Luna swallow in nervousness.

"As if you'd ever get expelled for someone else's Quidditch playing," Ginny continued with a roll of her eyes. "You're just jealous because that was the most exciting moment of Quidditch this school has seen for years and you didn't do a thing. Now, get back to your nice, safe game and leave us alone."

Roger blinked at Ginny several times before shaking his head and leaving them, tossing one last glare over his shoulder at Luna. She glanced briefly at where the rest of the Ravenclaw team was huddled. Only a few of them were looking at her, and none of them were smiling. She turned back to Ginny, whose smirk had morphed into a full blown smile. Luna felt her heart skip a beat in her chest.

"Thank you," she said, "I guess."

Ginny laughed and clapped Luna on the back unexpectedly, making her stumble.

"Thank _you_ for the good game," Ginny said. "You have no idea how boring Hogwarts Quidditch is when you're used to playing in the garden with your brothers. I needed that."

"We broke the rules though. We got in trouble."

Ginny waved her hand through the air.

"Everyone breaks the rules sometimes. That's how you play Quidditch. Don't let Davies freak you out. I bet he gets at least one foul before the game is over. Don't let him turn you into a target for his frustration with his own decisions as captain. You didn't do anything that anyone else on the team wouldn't have done."

Luna wasn't sure she agreed, but she nodded along anyway, unsure of how else to respond.

"I only wish one of us had won," Ginny continued, her smile turning into a frown. "Damn Hooch for interrupting us."

Luna fiddled with the sleeve of her robes. She really wanted to flee to the locker room and stop relieving the game, but Ginny was showing no signs of ending their conversation.

"Sometimes a tie is nice too," Luna said.

Ginny smirked in a way that left Luna feeling like she was missing something.

"I like you," Ginny concluded, making Luna's stomach twist into knots. She shifted from foot to foot as Ginny's eyes looked her up and down. "Why aren't we friends already?"

Luna opened her mouth to answer, but Ginny didn't give her time to do so before she continued.

"Meet me in the unused classroom on the third floor tonight? We can get to know each other better."

The smile on her face made it difficult for Luna to breathe. She wasn't sure what she was getting herself into as she nodded.

"Great," Ginny said, turning and letting her hair swish over her shoulder in just the right way to reflect the sunlight.

Luna watched her go, her stomach twisting itself in knots from the anticipation of what was still hours away. When she'd joined the team to make friends, she had expected it to be with members of her own house. She hadn't been prepared for Ginny Weasley.

* * *

Luna entered the classroom Ginny had specified to find the girl in question perched on one of the desks towards the front of the room. Her entire body deflated from relief. Her loud exhale was enough to capture Ginny's attention. A small smile appeared on the other girl's lips.

"You're here," Luna said before she could think better of it.

A small crease appeared in Ginny's forehead as she stood from the desk.

"Did you think I wouldn't show up?"

Luna shrugged and kept her eyes on the floor as she approached the other girl.

"It's happened before," she admitted. "Once or twice. They thought it was funny in first year to say they wanted to be my friend and then laugh when I believed them. But they've mostly given that up."

When Ginny didn't answer right away, Luna glanced at her, surprised at the spark of anger in the redhead's eyes.

"That's a shame," Ginny said, forcing a smile back on her face. "You didn't deserve that, and I'm sorry it happened. But I'm definitely not tricking you. It's those other people's loss if they don't find you as interesting as I do. I've watched you in class, you know? I've listened to your theories. You don't think like anyone else in this school, and as far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing."

"You really want to be my friend?" Luna asked.

She cringed inwardly at the hopefulness in her voice that she was unable to quell in her surprise.

"Friends," Ginny said, letting the word trail off as she took a step closer. "Or, maybe, more than that if you're interested."

Luna's heart raced. Ginny stood close enough that Luna could have counted the freckles across her cheeks if her mind had been calm enough to devote itself to the activity. Her eyes kept flickering to Ginny's lips before traveling back to her eyes. Ginny stood silently across from her, a smirk on her lips, as she waited for Luna to respond.

"What do you mean by more than friends?" Luna asked.

Because the only way she could interpret it felt impossible. People didn't want to be her friend; why would anyone want to be more than that?

"I mean that I'd really like to kiss you," Ginny said, taking another step forward. "And then I'd like to get to know you better, if you're up for that."

Luna's legs felt like they'd give out at any moment. She took a fistful of her robes and squeezed to relieve some of her anxiety.

"Okay," she choked out.

Ginny pressed forward, and Luna forgot how to breathe as Ginny's lips covered her own.

She had joined the Quidditch team to make friends, and perhaps that hadn't happened. Instead, she'd gained something she hadn't thought to look for, and she couldn't say she was upset about it.


End file.
